COEUR d'ALENE - District 4 Rep. Marge Chadderdon will be absent when the Idaho Legislature convenes on Jan. 10 in Boise, but her seat will not be empty.

The 74-year-old Chadderdon, a Republican lawmaker who lives in Fernan and represents Position A, will have breast cancer surgery on Friday at Kootenai Medical Center. Her daughter, Julie, also of Fernan, will serve in her stead.

Chadderdon hopes to return to the Capitol two or three weeks after the surgery.

"In my case, (the cancer) probably wouldn't have been found for a long time," Chadderdon said. "So I feel fortunate."

Doctors discovered the cancer shortly after a routine mammogram on Dec. 10, she said. Additional tests followed.

"So then it just kind of unfolded," Chadderdon said. "It's not like emergency surgery. And very pleasant people, caring and checking in. I feel I'm in very good hands."

Chadderdon is one of 70 representatives currently serving in Boise. Now in her fourth term, she sits on the business, education and local government committees.

A rules review will dominate the first three weeks of the upcoming legislative session, Chadderdon said.

"And so there really aren't any laws, or any activities, on the floor of the House, as far as voting and things," she said. "If we're missing more than three days, we need to have someone fill in for us. I know I will be missing more than three days."

A former regional chairman for the Idaho Republican Party, Julie Chadderdon plans to stay in North Idaho for her mother's surgery, then head to Boise this weekend.

"It'll be interesting to see how the people that work so hard to get elected function down there," Julie said. "A lot of (the legislators) I know from my (political) involvement over the years. And I have really great respect for our local politicians. I look forward to working with them."

Julie said she has been on Chadderdon's substitute list for the past three years. Chadderdon was absent for a few days during a legislative session last year, and selected then-candidate Kathy Sims - now the District 4, Position B representative - to serve in her place.

"There won't be very many surprises, I don't think," Julie said. "If you haven't sat through it, you don't know what the experience is like. So it's new to me."

She said she'll mainly "watch and listen" during the rules review.

Julie will sit in her mother's spot in the back row of the Legislature.

"If all goes well," Chadderdon said, and depending on her recovery time and additional treatment, she aims to be back in Boise by the end of January or the first of February.

"I'm probably going to be a pretty strong advocate for mammograms," Chaddedon said. "In this case, it was just a routine mammogram. There wasn't any reason to suspect I had anything there. I'm grateful for that."